Route from Florida to Fruita Campground in Utah

[hbrand]

Will drive to Fruita end of this June, from Daytona Beach.
Have 2021 Jayco Alante 26x flat towing a Ford Maveric. 7 travel days.
Google maps gives me 3 options, but do any of you have taken this trip and on what roads.
Less stress is better.
Greetings, Harold

https://photos.app.goo.gl/C9oTq6BuawPJZr9b7

[SLOweather]

I 70 will take you past Fruita in CO near Grand Junction and right to Fruita UT and the national park. It also will take you through Glenwood Canyon which is beautiful and an engineering marvel Also through the Eisenhower Johnson tunnels crossing the divide at 11,000 ft. Another engineering marvel.


Pay attention to the weather and wildfires in the area I had to use 40 instead of 70 a few years ago due to the Grizzly Fire and mud slides closing 70 in Glenwood Canyon.


Here's a discussion of I70 travel in early June in CO.


https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...-Colorado.html

[twogypsies]

All highways have good and bad areas. Just pick what cities you want to drive through and what you want to see along the way.

[Flyer15015]

Harold,
I kind of take your bottom route when I travel from Buena Vista Colorado to Leesburg Florida.
And I know that Louisiana has the worst roads in the country. I just grin and bear it.
Hard to believe the top route is only 90 miles longer. Seems like it would take forever that way.


Mike in Colorado

[twogypsies]

If you take I-70, the top route you'll be crossing the Rocky Mtns. if that would be a concern for you and the RV. High elevation!

[TampaDave]

We usually take 40. Not a terrible way to go. Just time your city segments to avoid rush hour, and you'll get there.

Traditionally people have figured out a way to bypass Atlanta, often via 27 in Georgia or 231 in Alabama. Although traffic and road conditions are so terrible everywhere, I dunno that Atlanta is really any worse than anything else any more, especially if you're just cutting off a corner. There's an argument for staying south of Atlanta and get up at 4am to make the run. Atlanta is right pleasant at 4am actually.

In Memphis, take 269 bypass and cross the river on 55.

It's gonna be slow going over the mountains in that rig. The easiest series of passes would be to take 160 west from Walsenberg, and then 114 between Saguache and Gunnision -- an absolutely gorgeous drive. You can make it even easier by working your way through Northern New Mexico on 285, get into Colorado via either 285 or 522, make your way to Saguache and go from there. Especially if you follow the western flank of the Sangres thru Santa Fe, Taos, Costilla, past Sand Dunes ... that's a super nice drive if you're not in a hurry, lots to see and very little mountain driving.

OTOH probably the quickest way is to get off 40 in Amarillo and take 87 to Raton, then Walsenberg. Kinda boring but decent roads. You'll have three passes to deal with but we did that route in our old gasser several times and it's readily do-able. I'll tell ya my Raton Pass story sometime. Hot tip: bring a spare belt

In the plains, mind the wind. As a general rule, things are much more pleasant in the mornings. Cooler, less wind, fewer trucks, gas stations are less crowded, nicer weather. Tires are softer. Things tend to deteriorate after 3pm or so. If you start getting tossed around, slow down.

[Warhorse6]

Go the southern route. Going through Atlanta only leads to more stress.

[hbrand]

Thank you all, think I will do I40
Greetings, Harold

[traveldawg]

We've been that way a bunch of times from central FL..... Sitting in Ft Collins now after recently traveling the first part of the following route (again) to Conway, AR. After that we deviate depending on what we want to see on the way to Utah. With 7 days of travel you will have to probably travel a bit over 300 miles per day.

Our preferred route:
I-95, I-295, I-10 to Mobile, AL;
US98, US84, US49 to Jackson, MS;
I-20, US65, I-530, I-40 to Conway, AR;
I-40 to Albuquerque, NM or Flagstaff, AZ;

So far - no major mountains or grades to speak of (and no Atlanta or Dallas or Chattanooga, Nashville, St Louis, Kansas City, Denver). All roads are easy, even the non-interstates. The only real major city would be OK City, and it is not nearly like any of the aforementioned cities.

Then it sort of depends on what you intend to do. If you are going to Fruita, UT then you must have something else out there in mind. Page, AZ? Monument Valley? Zion? Moab? Bryce? Kodachrome SP, UT?

Lots of ways to get to Fruita. Probably need to understand your other plans to help further.

BTW - Google Maps - NOT the way to plan an RV route!!! Either invest in a Garmin RV GPS or look into RV Trip Wizard to properly plan an RV trip. Considering what you spent on the RV and toad, a few more hundred dollars will save you a lot of routing agony.

[hbrand]

[QUOTE=traveldawg;7003084]

Thanks for all the tips.
Travel to Fruita from Daytona Beach estimate 7 days. Then we are 2 weeks in Fruita, 1 week in Escalante petrified forest, 2 days Goblin, 3 days Moab, 1 week Devils Garden, 2 days Gore Creek, 3 days Golden Gate ST, 1 week Glacier Basin Campground, and then we will see whats next on the way back to Florida. New Mexico etc.
Have Garmin GPS and my wife is the "Navigator"
I am 72 now and better do those long trips now.
Greetings, Harold

[jergle]

Originally Posted by Warhorse6

Go the southern route. Going through Atlanta only leads to more stress.

Agree with this 100%. I would easily drive 100 miles out of the way to avoid Atlanta.